Witnesses recount gunshots, confusion at Navy Yard

1of4M Street near the Washington Navy Yard is full of police and first-responder activity reacting to a suspect killing a dozen people and wounding others. Troops stood guard at street corners.Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

2of4Police respond to the report of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, September 16, 2013. A gunman shot and wounded at least one person Monday in a headquarters building at the US Navy Yard in Washington and is still at large, the navy said."There is one confirmed injury. Emergency personnel are on scene and a 'shelter in place' order has been issued for Navy Yard personnel," the navy said in a statement. Local television reported that there were as many as five casualties and the Navy said that police had entered building number 197 in search of the shooter. The Navy said at least three shots were fired at 8:20 am (1320 GMT) in the headquarters building of the Naval Sea Systems Command. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesPhoto: AFP/Getty Images

3of4People exit a building with their hands above their heads as police respond to the report of a shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, September 16, 2013. At least one unidentified gunman opened fire at the US Navy Yard in Washington on Monday and was at large after killing "multiple" victims and wounding several more, officials said. Police and FBI agents descended on the area in force as helicopters swarmed overhead, amid reports a shooter was armed with an assault rifle and was holed up at the complex. "We believe there were multiple deaths," a US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP. The precise death toll remained unclear, the official said. A Washington DC police officer and another law enforcement officer had been shot while the gunman had allegedly barricaded himself in a room in a headquarters building, media reported. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEBSAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesPhoto: AFP/Getty Images

4of4WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 16: A Park Police helicopter carries a sniper to the roof of a building on the Navy Yard complex where a shooting took place early this morning September 16, 2013 in Washington, DC. Early reports indicate that several people may have been shot, and police are still trying to determine the number of suspects involved in the shooting. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Some heard a volley of shots as they went about their morning routines.

Others heard the fire alarms and thought it was just a drill. Many were still commuting to work when they received emails and alerts telling them to stay away.

Chaos and fear consumed the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning as employees fled from buildings or locked themselves in offices and closets.

In a drizzling rain, they shared their experiences and bits of news trying to piece together what had happened.

They wondered whether they were safe.

Tim Jirus, a U.S. Navy commander, was working on the fourth floor of Building 197 when he heard two or three shots. It was distant, and he couldn't tell if it was real.

“I thought it was a guy with a cap gun,” said Jirus, 48.

Suddenly, people ran through the cubicles, shouting, “Get out!” The fire alarm went off.

As he was walking outside, he saw a co-worker being loaded into a police car. He was told by colleagues that the man had been shot. Then he heard more shots.

By about 8:45 a.m., Jirus stood in an alley near his building and talked with a civilian about what was unfolding.

Then came the sound of two more gunshots — very loud, because they were echoing off the alley. Jirus looked toward the direction of the sound, then looked down: The other man had fallen to the ground, shot in the head.

Jirus said he didn't know whether the shooter was on the roof or if there was an open door behind him, but he knew the other man was dead, and he was terrified.

He ran, seeing security officers arrive at the northern end of the alley and sheltering behind police cars.

“I was running for my life,” he said.

He sprinted behind a maintenance building and quickly scaled a tall black metal fence, avoiding the spikes at the top and thankful that it didn't have razor wire. He kept going.

“I was just lucky,” he said. “The other person was shorter than me. There were two shots. He got that guy. He didn't get me.”

“The randomness of it — standing right next to me, one person gets shot,” Jirus said.

Patricia Ward, a Navy logistics management specialist, said she was at an ATM in the first-floor atrium of Building 197, where the Naval Sea Systems Command is located, when she heard loud, short explosions coming from a few floors above the open lobby.

She and her two companions, who were on their way to breakfast, exchanged glances.

One of Ward's friends started to ask: “Was that a gunshot?” But she was interrupted by the sounds of “BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM,” Ward said.

“We knew it then,” Ward said. “We just started running.”

A security guard on the sidewalk, her gun drawn, told them to keep running.

Five blocks away, Ward waited in the drizzle for news of her co-workers. She called her manager, who told her to make her way home to Woodbridge, Va., even though her purse, phone and other belongings were still at her desk.

A man wearing a Naval Sea Systems Command identification badge said he was sitting at his desk on the second floor when he heard a loud noise, “like someone dropping an old metal desk.” He didn't think much of it, as there's a construction site nearby. Then there was a pause, then four or so noises close together.

“There's a shooter in the building,” the man said he remembered thinking. “I started walking toward the door, and I heard people running down the hall.”

The fire alarm went off, and the man said he heard someone shouting, “Where is he? Where is he?”

The man said he ran toward an exit. Employees were herded at a back door, which opens along the Anacostia River. After he left the building, the man said he heard more gunshots.

Many Navy Yard employees work for the military and are not allowed to speak to the media, so they asked that their names not be used.

Some employees were still on their way to work when the shooting began.

Police vehicles kept racing past, sirens blaring and lights flashing. Dozens stood near the Navy Yard entrance in drizzling rain, unsure of what to do. A few complained about what they consider a lack of security.

“How can a military installation allow a ... gunman on base?” one man said.

Chris Morris, 36, a program analyst at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said he got an email at 9:10 a.m. alerting employees that there was an active shooter in the NAV-SEA building, and that people inside the transportation building should stay inside, and those not yet at work should turn back.

Tina Washington, 45, had wandered out of the Department of Transportation for a break when she saw “all this — police cars, airplanes, news reporters.” She was shaky, she said, and trying to figure out where she would be safe.

Dewey Carpenter, a Navy employee at the Navy Yard, said he and his co-workers in Building 210 were directly across from Building 197, the headquarters of Naval Sea Systems Command, where the shots were fired.

He and co-workers said they saw helicopters flying outside and heard shouting. Carpenter said it was hard to absorb all the feelings of being in a compound just steps away from the shooting.

“Events like this kind of put things in perspective,” he said. “Most of us have heard about things like this happening on the news. It's usually just a banner at the bottom of the TV screen. It's no longer that banner on the bottom of the screen.”